Volcanes, Valles y Viento

The awe inspiring landscapes continued as we cycled towards Cotopaxi national park. We had been longing to glimpse the iconic volcano since entering the region and, having caught a fleeting glimpse of the white rugged peak the evening before, we were keen to witness it in all its glory. It was a beautifully clear morning when we cycled towards Cotopaxi, surrounded by four volcanos it was like nothing we had experienced before. The road through the park was rough gravel, uphill and into a head wind…but like most tough rides this was more than worth it to be so close to such a majestic monster, and on our own steam. As we rounded the edge of Cotopaxi it was lost from sight in the clouds and we descended from the chilly, windswept environment at 4000m, down towards civilisation once more.

We had a very cold nights sleep just outside the park and left the next morning to start the Quilotoa loop. This is a popular circuit amongst hikers who tend to do sections of the 100mile route on walking paths. Being on bikes we planned to do the whole loop via the roads (or gravel tracks much of the time). We left the base of Cotopaxi for a tough day with lots of climbing, we found ourselves constantly descending towards the river and then having to climb all the way back up which was a little soul destroying, we spent a lot of time wondering why there are not bridges across Andean valleys?! The final battle of the day was to reach a village 14km off the loop…so we slid down a rough gravel track to the river and started to climb all the way up the other side. By this point we were knackered…and being tired on steep gravel is not an option. It takes so much more effort to push over the bumps with our heavy bikes and we walked a lot. It began to get dark and with another 5k still to go I was despairing. In true Laura style I cried, then decided there was nothing for it but to carry on…then got a second wind which left Sam in the dust wondering what had happened to his previously exhausted girlfriend. We arrived in the dark and were immediately welcomed into the warm hostel for a meal and a shower. Going from being on the dark, empty, bumpy road to the warm, bright hostel full of smiling walkers was a little bizzare!

We rested after that exhaustion and we rested in style as our hostel had a spa, so we were able to properly relax in warm water and steam…a long way from our normal lives!

They don’t close the roads here if they are building or adapting them…they leave them open for cars, buses, trucks and cycle tourists to negotiate the surface and dodge the construction vehicles. This isn’t ideal and made for tough and horribly dusty riding, with the added fear that you might get squashed or pushed off the edge. But a new road emerged and it was lovely and smooth!

On the second to last leg to Laguna de Quilotoa, the hills were knee crunchingly steep and into a ferocious headwind…but when we arrived to the enormous crater lake, that the locals say has no bottom, it was beautiful. And we managed to beat the walkers who we had met at the beginning of the loop, not really a fair competition but still…!

We descended from the lake at 4000m to Latacunga, where we rested and tried to decide how to spend our last week on the bikes.